Accompanying the rapid increase in the use of electronic messaging systems has been an explosion of unsolicited mass marketing efforts using such systems. This has led to users being bombarded with unwanted messages and losing control over their privacy. In particular, the rapid growth in the use of e-mail over the Internet has led to a dramatic surge of mass unsolicited direct marketing e-mails commonly known as “junk” e-mails. While direct marketers and other senders have enjoyed the low cost distribution of advertisements enabled by mass unsolicited e-mail, users have seen electronic in-boxes flooded with e-mails that the users have no interest in receiving. Once a user has provided an e-mail address to another party, the ability of the user to preserve privacy and prevent unwanted or unauthorized use and sharing of the user's e-mail address is often limited or non-existent.
One approach for handling unwanted e-mails is to identify and block messages from an offending sender. For example, many e-mail systems and services have a “block sender” function for specifying an address from which no further e-mails will be accepted. Unfortunately, the sender generating the mass unsolicited e-mail can defeat such functions by using other software to automatically create new addresses from which to send the mass unsolicited e-mail. Such addresses may be false or used one time (“spoof” addresses), and may be generated as quickly as e-mail users and service providers can identify the offending addresses and block them.
Another approach for handling unwanted e-mails is for the recipient to abandon an e-mail address and create a new one. However, direct marketers use a number of techniques to obtain e-mail addresses, such as scanning postings on Internet sites that have news groups, chat rooms, directory services, message boards, and mailing lists. Also, to conduct electronic transactions over the Internet, an e-mail address must often be provided, but merchants involved in such transactions often sell lists of received e-mail addresses to third parties including direct marketers. Essentially, by having and using an e-mail address, a user cannot be assured that senders of mass unsolicited e-mail cannot obtain the e-mail address, resulting in receiving unwanted mass unsolicited e-mail.
Still another approach for handling unwanted e-mails and protecting privacy is by using anonymous e-mail. The anonymous e-mail user sends and receives messages using an e-mail address associated with the service provider so that other parties directly exchange e-mail messages with the service provider, not the user. The e-mails received by the service provider are made available for review by the user. The anonymous e-mail approach may protect the user's true identity, but the user still must contend with mass unsolicited e-mail that is sent to the user's anonymous address and the sharing of the anonymous address by others.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for improved techniques for preventing and effectively managing unwanted electronic messages.
There is a particular need for a mechanism to insulate an e-mail user from receiving unsolicited e-mail, while preserving user anonymity at the same time.
There is also a need to implement such techniques to provide the user with a valid e-mail address that the user can use in e-commerce transactions or for other purposes.